


Metal + Knots

by AloneShadow



Series: Knots [3]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Caring Mac, Friendship, Hurt!Jack, Hurt!Mac, Hurt/Comfort, Kind of a Case Fic, Low bromance if you wish, Not Betaed, This show is the chaotic energy I needed in my life, no ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21838849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AloneShadow/pseuds/AloneShadow
Summary: “That isn't gonna stop them for long!”“I know, but it’ll give us time to block the other door.”“The other door? But- Are you sure?”“Ah, no,” Mac said running upstairs.Jack’s hopeful smile lasted less than a second, “What you meanno?!"
Series: Knots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1384402
Comments: 8
Kudos: 49





	Metal + Knots

**Author's Note:**

> This slowly turned into the prequel of a possible fic I'm thinking about. Still, it can stay on its own as well.  
> I wish I gave this show a chance sooner because I love it already.
> 
> -*Updated*-

“So this is the place?” Jack asked staring at the ten-floors building in front of them. 

“Yes.” 

“And, let me guess, the bomb is on the top floor?” 

“Probably,” Mac said closing the truck and moving next to him with a backpack on his shoulders. 

“Why it can’t be on the first floor for once? Or the basement? That would be nice for a change.” 

“Do you want to stay here to complain or we can go disarm the bomb?” 

“After you,” Jack said gesturing him to lead the way. “I’m not complaining. I’m just stating a fact.” 

“Are you?” Mac scoffed, almost impressed. 

“Ah- ah. Very funny. I might not be a genius like you, but I know a few things too, ok? Wanna hear some?” 

“Maybe later.” Mac sighed as they both pushed the entrance’s doors open, watching the hall busy of people leaving the building and police officers pointing them to the exit. “Why there are still so many people in here?” 

“I’ll find out,” Jack said walking towards the agents. 

Mac took the time to scan the surroundings like he always used to do, spotting the door to the staircase on the right. 

“Seems like they have problems with the electric system, that's why the evacuation it taking so long,” Jack said coming back. “The upper floors should be empty by now, but the agents sent to check haven't come back yet.” 

“They tried calling via radio?” 

“Yes, they did.” Jack answered and they both nodded saying together, “Enemies inside the building.” 

“How did you know?” Riley asked through their coms.

“How do you not know?” Jack asked with a little grin, “I thought you were already into their security system?” 

“I’m trying, but it looks like someone has been playing here before me, so it’s gonna take a while. Sorry guys.” She said, sounding annoyed. 

“Hey, don’t worry. If I can’t punch someone, what am I here for?” Jack shrugged. 

“Moral support?” She said.

“Really? I thought that was Mac-” 

“Come on, we have to go upstairs,” Mac himself yelled reaching the door on the right. 

“Yes, sir.” The soldier trotted towards him and groaned watching the staircase waiting for them. 

“You can do it, Jack.” Mac smiled patting a hand on his back, but he just glared nervously at him before starting to climb. “What? I take my role as moral support very seriously.” Mac continued, offended, but then grinned, following him.

Once on the 10th floor, Mac was the first to open the door, bending forward after a few steps, hands on his knees to regain some breath. 

“Well… Seems like our moral support is- out of breath…” Jack panted arriving a few seconds later. 

“Can say- the same about you.” 

“Me? I can do this all day.” Jack said straightening his back, hands on his hips, failing to mask a pained expression on his face.

Mac nodded tiredly while asking, “Riley, do you have the exact location of the bomb?” 

“-urbance. I can’t- up.” She answered. 

“What? Riley, I can’t hear you.” 

“-stairs! – it’s on!” 

Mac shared a look with Jack that commented with an unsure, “She doesn’t sound happy…” 

“Someone is jamming the communications,” Mac said. “I think she meant _upstairs_ …” 

“We _are_ upstairs. What about the _it’s on_? What is on?” 

“I guess we have to find out. You check the right side, I’ll check this one. Scream if you find something.”

“Alright… Oh, hey Mac!”

“What?” 

“Did you know giraffe cleans their ears with their tongue?” 

Mac blinked, perplexed, then his shoulders dropped. “Really? Now?” 

“It’s a fact! You didn’t know that, right? Right?” he said with a proud smile while the other just left. 

Mac kept wandering through the left area of the large office, checking desks and rooms, but found nothing worth screaming for. One door was locked, so he walked back in the middle empty-handed. From there, he saw Jack rising his arms in resignation. 

“Did we miss something?” Jack yelled. 

Mac kept looking around and spotted the door to the roof. “That.” He said gesturing at it. 

“You think-?“ Jack was saying but stopped when someone came out the door they just used: four men, all of them armed with guns that started firing after they spent the first seconds staring at each other in surprise. 

“Jack, the roof!” Mac yelled ducking while running towards the door, hiding behind the desks.

“Go, GO!” The soldier gestured him to go, firing a few bullets until they were both on the staircase to the roof. “We need to block the door!” Jack said holding it closed, hearing bullets hitting the other side. 

Mac looked around them and then used his knife to cut a tube, exposing electric wires that he carefully pulled out and uncovered, cutting them as well. “Move,” he said pushing him away before making the wires connect to the metal door, electrifying it in a second. "The electricity is too low..."

“That isn't gonna stop them for long!” 

“I know, but it’ll give us time to block the other door.” 

“The other door? But- Are you sure?”

“Ah, no,” Mac said running upstairs. 

Jack’s hopeful smile lasted less than a second, “What you mean _no_?! Where’s the moral support, now?” 

“I thought you said you didn’t like it!” 

“It depends on the situation!” Jack said running after him. “If I’m gonna die soon, I would appreciate the-“ he took one step outside, on the roof, almost crashing against Mac that has suddenly stopped, forcing him to do the same. “What-?” 

“Look,” Mac said keeping his eyes in front of them: there was a metal box on the ground, wires all around it and little antennas on two of its sides. 

“'Guess we found the bomb… Yay.” Jack said.

Before Mac could comment, they both turned around hearing the door downstairs smashing open. “Stay here, hold the door.” He then said running away. 

“Hold the- how? With what?” Jack said closing it and standing with his back against it. 

“I’m looking.” 

Jack’s body jerked forward when someone started pushing. “Mac!” 

“ **I’m looking!** ” 

“Look faster!” Jack flinched when his friend jumped down from above, landing next to him with a large metal tube in hand, placing an end against the door and the other on the ground, efficiently blocking the door. They both stepped away from it, “Ok… Ok, that’ll give us some time to-”

“The bomb!” Mac turned around, running towards the device to examine it, dropping the backpack next to it. “That’s what Riley meant. _It’s on_ … The timer is on!” 

Jack reached him, noticing the timer on one side showing 07.33, 07.32… “Great. Can you disarm it in seven minutes?” 

Mac lowered on his knee, thinking, then checked under the bomb. “Yes, but not from here.” 

“Good. Wait, what?” 

“The wires go down, through the floor…” Mac said standing up, “I think- I think this is a bait. The real bomb is downstairs. Beneath us.” 

“Beneath us? We checked the whole floor downstairs and we found nothing!” 

“Then we missed something."

“We didn’t!” 

“I know, but then how-!” Mac insisted, suddenly stopping. “One door was closed.” 

“What?” 

“One office was closed… The one that should be right under our feet right now!” Mac ran towards the edge, the cold wind angrily slapping his face. Shivering at the view, he turned around saying, “We need a way to go back downstairs.” 

Jack turned as the enemies kept smashing against the door, the metal tube starting to jump at each hit. “Not _that_ way. Maybe there are emergency stairs that we-“ turning again, he found a scared expression on his friend’s face. “Mac, you ok?”

“Huh? Yeah, I… I’ve already found another way. See those?” He said pointing at the electric cables attached below, to the building’s walls. “We could… We can use them to climb down. The window is right there…” 

“Shortcut. Well done.” Jack nodded, watching him take a deep breath, “Then why you don’t look happy about risking our lives this time?” 

“I…” Mac sighed, gesturing below.

“Oh- right, your problem with heights… Look, I’m sure you can do it-”

“Please, spare me the moral support.” 

“Ok… Hey, I know something that might help you.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Cotton candy was invented by a dentist.” 

“Are you serious?!” More banging at the door stopped Mac’s burst of rage. 

“Ok, OK! I’ll go first and then I help you, alright?” The soldier said quickly sitting and starting to climb down the roof, but Mac grabbed his arm. 

“We don’t know what’s in that room-“ 

“That’s why I’m going first.” Jack gave him his usual grin, carefully looking for a safe spot where to put his feet, then he grabbed the large wire and lowered himself, trying to stay as attached to the wall as possible. The wind was strong, but his hold was stronger. The office's window was one step away, so he did that and peeked inside. “It’s- an archive, I think. There’s a lot of shelves."

“Check the ceiling.” 

Jack obeyed, spotting the real bomb up there, another timer shining on it. “Yeah, I see it. You were right.” 

“Alright… I’m coming down.” 

“Ok, but be careful. No rush.” 

“We have less than six minutes, Jack.” 

“I know, but if you die time won’t be a problem anyway, so watch your steps. Hold on me and-“ Jack was rising a hand when he suddenly heard gunshots from above: he only had the time to see Mac grab the edge of the roof and jump down, crashing against the window and into the room making one, elegant arc in the air. “Or you can go full McClane style. Hoss, that was _awesome_!” Jack laughed following him inside. 

“Y-yeah…?” Mac managed to say with a bit of a shaky voice, kneeling on the floor, pieces of glass falling from his back and hair. 

“It wasn’t so bad, was it?” The other giggled helping him up, patting a hand on his back. “You ok? You look like you’re going to throw up…” 

Mac kept a hand on his stomach for a moment, considering it, and then shook his head. “No, I’m good. Bomb.” 

“Bomb. You're right.” Jack nodded and let him go because when Mac moves, you can’t stop him; because he knew Mac was already scanning the place for supplies to use, to come up with another improvised plan of his… That was a mistake on his part: he was supposed to protect the kid, to be the one always on the front, so that he could have noticed the thin barbed wire on the floor before it was too late. “Mac, wait-!” 

Still a bit dizzy, Mac turned around when he was almost below the bomb, pushing the wire with his ankle at the same time, and in a second he was flipped upside down, hanging from the ceiling with a gasp of surprise and pain.

“I got you- hold on, I got you!” Jack quickly reached him and grabbed his arms to stop him from swinging around, feeling Mac grasp at his shoulders, his face brushing against Jack’s chest. “Damn it, I told you to wait! I _always_ tell you to wait and you never listen!” 

“Is that- another fact?” Mac asked looking up.

Jack did the same: there was a thick metal rope made of knots and protected by barbed wire around Mac’s right leg, squeezing tightly on the fabric of his jeans. “Why the hell they put traps in here?” 

“Jack, the bomb-“ 

“I know, I know.” He moved to read on the timer without letting him go. “Four minutes.” 

“Can you cut the rope?” 

“On it… Give me your backpack,” Jack said slowly letting him go move a chair next to him, ready to climb. Not getting an answer, he looked down at him, “Please?” 

Mac sighed, “I left it on the roof.” 

“You _what_?!” 

“They were shooting at me!" Mac yelled back while climbing his’s friend shoulders and head for leverage, to look better and the trap and the bomb, trying to think of a solution for both.

“That excuse never works when I use it...” Jack commented standing on the chair, placing both hands flat against Mac’s back to keep him in place, laying beneath the bomb. “Can you- can you reach it?” he asked, trying to keep his balance.

“Yeah… Give me a moment…” 

“Take your time,” Jack sighed. Without looking up, he could hear him huff and pant until Mac's weight dropped on his hands almost completely. “What’s wrong?” 

“I can’t free myself with the knife…” Mac panted, “Think you can hold me up for four minutes?” 

“Sure. I always- wished to die in a heroic position.” Jack took a deep breath, ready to lift him up as much as he could, but then heard a door smashing open: turning, he saw one of the enemies enter the room- and immediately aim the gun at Mac. “Shit-“ 

“What?” Mac asked when suddenly Jack’s support disappeared and he fell straight back down, gasping at the pain from his back and from his leg because of the backlash, hearing a gunshot. He felt Jack grasp onto him as he almost fell from the chair, and then noticed the enemy approaching. Grabbing Jack’s shirt, Mac moved both aside when more shots were fired. Looking on the right, he noticed the old screen of a computer on the shelf close to the enemy. “Jack- shoot the screen!”

Jack was already aiming at the enemy, but moved to the screen at the last second, making it explode above the man that yelled something falling against the opposite side, trying to cover his head. Then, Mac used his free leg to push on the closest shelf, starting a domino effect that ended with half of the archive crashing down, on the floor and onto the man, successfully knocking him down. 

Once the chaos stopped and the dust started to settle, Mac asked, “You ok?” a bit breathless, both still holding onto each other. 

“Yeah… Sorry I dropped you- he was going to shoot you. You really make a mess in here…” he added with a grin, unsteady on the chair.

“Come on, we don’t have much time.” 

Jack nodded, handing the gun to him. 

“I don’t need-” 

“I know, just keep it. My hands are busy, anyway.” Jack sighed patiently, standing straight and grabbing Mac's shoulders first, and then on his hips to lift him up again. 

Unsure, Mac put the gun behind his back, so that it would have been easy for Jack to take it back, and started working on the bomb: two minutes and twenty seconds left. When the timer hit one minute, he could feel his friend’s hands grasping painfully on his sides. “Almost done…” he said stretching an arm to grab a paper clip from the shelf next to them.

“Good…” 

“Come on, I saw you lifting things heavier than me.” 

“Was- that a compliment?” 

Mac scoffed and then pulled a red wire from the bomb- and the timer stopped at 40 seconds. “Ok… Done.” He breathed out in relief. 

“Great. Now- watch out…”

Mac frowned, feeling Jack’s hands starting to let him go. Looking down, he grabbed Jack’s arm just in time to slow down his fall from the chair to the floor, losing the pocketknife to do so. “Jack-!” he gasped, spinning around while letting his friend’s body lay on the floor as gently as possible.

“Help is coming… Right?” Jack murmured, head down. 

Mac had to grab his arm with both hands, watching him keep a hand over his stomach. Only then, he noticed the blood. “Are you hurt?” he asked looking between the blood and his face, “Jack?” 

“’m fine.” He said with a tired smile. 

“Don’t- Jack, stay awake!” Mac yelled pulling his arm, but the other was limp into his grasp a second later. With him laying down almost completely, Mac could now see a gunshot wound was actually on his side- and that there was a chance the bullet didn’t hit any vital organ; considering the direction of the shot, he turned around as much as possible, finding a hole in the wall behind them. “Bullet’s out… The bullet’s out…” he murmured, looking back at his friend, holding tightly on his arm. 

Mac didn’t want to let go, but to help his friend, he needed to free himself. He gently dropped Jack’s arm and looked at the trap. He took a deep breath and pulled himself up, grasping the barbed wire around the metal rope, hissing in pain as the spike started to hurt his hands. Mac pulled as strong as he could, ignoring the pain until it was just too much and he let go, falling down again. 

Breathing hard, he looked at Jack, blood spreading beneath his body and close to the pocketknife laying there, out of reach. Mac gritted his teeth and pushed himself up again, grabbing the barbed wires and pulling stronger than before, watching blood spill from his hands when the spikes pierce the skin. “Damn it!” He screamed angrily and stopped pulling, but not letting go from the wires. _Think. You need to think._

Taking more deep breaths, Mac studied the trap again, observing every wire connected to it until he finally noticed the right one: following it, he found a little box in a corner of the room, barely visible, and the starting point of the trap- probably.

Mac thought for a second, considering the possibilities, but then just picked the fastest one: he held firmly on the barbed wire with a hand and grabbed the gun with the other, aiming at the box- he fired once and missed the shot. Cursing at himself, he tried to calm down, to breathe, and then slowly aimed at the box again: the blast echoed into the room- and nothing happened. Mac could see the box was now destroyed, and right when he was ready to scream again, he fell down from the ceiling, hitting hard on the floor with his back. 

Coughing a bit, he turned and dragged himself to Jack, the barbed wire still around his leg. “Jack… Jack!” Mac pulled on his jacket, tried to wake him up, but the man was unconscious. He could see the blood expanding beneath him and panic started to rise again. 

Mac removed his jacket and put it under his friend to slow down the bleeding on that side, then moved to put his hands on the other wound, but his own hands were bleeding, now. Frantically looking around, he then stood, walking as fast as possible to reach a little closet basically empty, except that for a few towels that he took immediately. 

Falling next to Jack again, he pressed one on the entrance wound with a hand while using the other to grab his phone that almost slipped from his bloodied hand. Luckily, the signal was back. “Riley, can you hear me?” 

“Mac! Finally! I was-“ 

“Send an ambulance. We need-” Mac’s voice faltered, as he couldn’t look away from the blood. It was everywhere, on his hands, on his clothes, on the floor- all over Jack… 

“-on the way. Mac? MAC!” 

Blinking, he realized Riley was screaming. “Yes… I’m here.” 

“The ambulance will be there soon, so hold on. Can you tell me what happened? Where’s Jack? Are you guys ok?” 

“I’m fine,“ Mac just kept pressing on the wound, feeling the warmth of the blood against the skin, “but Jack got shot.”

There was a moment of silence, then Riley asked, "Can you help him?" 

Mac shut his eyes for a moment, nodding while mentally organizing most of the objects he saw in the room. 

"Mac?" she was getting worried now. 

"Yeah... Yes, just- tell the ambulance to be fast." That was _his_ job, after all. Fix things- including humans, if he had to.

*

Two days later, Riley was sitting on a chair next to the hospital bed where Jack was sleeping peacefully. She was looking down, gently poking the cord of the balloon Bozer left there that morning with her fingers- it was one of those “Get well soon!” type of balloon. They attached it to the chair, hoping it would have made Jack smile.

Breathing out, she turned to the man, glad that the operation has ended well. Despite losing so much blood, the bullet has done no major damage… A clear, lucky shot that probably would have never happen again in Jack's life. 

The door opened and Mac appeared, with a crutch under an arm; the right side of his trousers pulled up, showing the lower part of the leg covered in bandages, just as much as his hands. “Sorry, I thought there was no one…” he started.

“You can stay,” Riley said with a little smile, standing up. “I was about to leave, anyway.” 

He walked closer, and asked, “How is he doing?” 

“Better. He woke up before, just for a moment, but I doubt he was really conscious.” She said, and he nodded slowly. “How are you, Mac?” 

“I’m fine. Just a bit- scratched.” 

“You don’t get a crutch because of a scratch.” 

Mac looked down at his own leg. “I’m not the one who got shot.” 

“No, and I told you that what happened to Jack is not on you,” Riley gently said. “He did it to save you, and we know he would do it again.” 

“If I just noticed that stupid trap…” 

“Hey,” she moved closer, “No one’s perfect, that’s why we watch each other’s back. Mistakes can happen to anyone. Even to someone like you.”

He sighed, trying to lighten the mood, “I’m just not used to it, I guess.” 

“He’ll be fine, so don’t worry.” She reassured him. “I’ll be back in a while ok? Just the time to take a shower and change.” 

Mac nodded, trying to smile a bit, watching her leave. When the door closed, he turned and sat on the same chair, keeping the crutch standing between his legs, making it spin slowly between his hands despite the pain. It was easier dealing with that, rather than the memories of their last mission… Having his best friend dying in front of him and not being able to do anything. He was- paralyzed. It was as if his brain, usually working at full speed, stopped as soon as he realized there was a chance, even so remote, of losing Jack. He snapped out of it, _eventually_ , but he knew those seconds of pure fear would have hunted him for a while…

“Hey…” 

His head jumped up at the voice, finding Jack looking at him with eyes half-open. Mac breathed out, smiling a bit, relieved. “Hey.” 

Jack blinked, and it was almost possible to hear his brain rebooting. “Mac- ow! Shit-” he tried to sit, but only managed to lean on his good side, both hands on the wound. 

Mac was up in a second to hold him still, the crutch falling on the floor. “Don’t move, ok? You’re still-“ 

“Are you ok?” Jack asked, grasping his arm with a hand, checking him up and down. “What happened to the bomb?” 

“I disarmed it. You don’t remember?” 

“Y- yeah… I think. What you need that for?” Jack then asked noticing the crutch, and then Mac’s bandaged leg- and then his hands. “Oh God, Mac, what have you done?” Meeting his glare, he could see those blue eyes looked so tired, and a bit watery. 

“You didn’t tell me that you go shot until it was too late, that’s what happened.” Mac finally breathed out. 

Jack frowned again, slowly remembering everything. “Right… Sorry, but- we needed to disarm the bomb. Did you got hurt after that? There were more enemies?” 

“No, I just... I tried to free myself after you pass out. Took me a while to break the trap.” 

“Is your leg ok?” 

“Yes, it’s just a scratch.” 

“You don’t get a crutch just for a scratch.” 

“Riley told me the same thing…” Mac sighed sitting down again, collecting the crutch from the floor. “I’ll be as new in a few days. Can’t say the same about you.” 

“Ugh…” Jack groaned, laying down, a hand still on the wound. “Give me- a week, maybe?” 

“Make it two.” 

Jack stared at Mac’s bandaged fingers, then look up at his face again, not missing that serious glare fixed on the ground. “Hey, we’re both ok, and you even disarmed that bomb. Everything's alright.” 

Mac simply nodded. Since he saw Jack being taken away on a stretcher, after they were found in that building, Mac couldn’t stop thinking of the resemble with a similar scene from his past… When he saw Pena being taken away, dead. To make it worse, Matty’s words also kept echoing into his head: _I don’t want to watch on a monitor the day your luck runs out._

Keeping Jack’s gun has been pure luck? What if he had failed to get free himself from the trap? What if at some point there wouldn’t have been _anything_ to test that luck anymore? 

A hand on his arm make him flinch and Mac blinked, finding his friend staring worriedly at him.

“I’ve got shot before, alright? It’s nothing you should worry so much about.” Jack said more seriously. His soft and glee expression could change so quickly, it was almost scary. 

Mac nodded, taking a deep breath. “Maybe try not being shot next time?” 

Jack’s face didn’t change. “I’m serious.” 

“Me too.” 

The soldier breathed out and let him go. Then, added, “If there’s something you need to tell me, speak. I’m here to listen.” 

“Actually, there is something...” 

“Ok…?” 

“Did you know the can opener was invented around 50 years after the can?” 

Jack opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and narrowed his eyebrows in confusion until his eyes widened and a smile appeared again. “Is that a fact?” 

“It is.” Mac nodded very seriously and they both started laughing. 

“Ow- ow! Fifty years? How they- ow- how they managed to survive until then?” Jack asked, laughing despite the pain from the wound. 

“Well…” Mac continued with his explanation, relieved to see him smile again, to see Jack breathing- alive.


End file.
